A New Begining
by maggielovespj
Summary: jonsey and susie head on a camping trip for the new year...


Susie walked into the station on Boxing Day. She looked around and saw Jonesy was the only one in the muster room. He looked up as he heard her. They hadn't spoken since the kiss at the Christmas party. They had drawn the short straws over the Christmas roster. PJ had volunteered to do Christmas day, and they had drawn straws to decide who would work over the next few days, and who had new years off.

Working Boxing Day wasn't really a big deal to Jonesy, as he was planning to go camping with his mates for new years. He felt that he would be left out over new years, as all his mates would be there with there girlfriends or wives. He would love to be able to take someone with him, but he wasn't sure how she would react to him asking her. He wanted something more then just being friends, but he knew that that was what she wanted, or at least what he thought she wanted.

Susie's Christmas day had been just as she predicted, not that that had worried her, but she felt left out, she didn't have children, or a partner to share Christmas with. The person she had wanted to Christmas with didn't know how she felt, that she wanted to be more then friends. But he didn't know that, she hoped she could tell him, but she didn't know how.

"How was your Christmas?" Jonesy asked her, and saw her smile.

"Just how I predicted, how about you?" she replied

"Dad had to work, so I just hung around Mt. Thomas."

"Why?" she asked looking at him more intensely "You could have come with me."

"That would have been great, but with this roster, I would have no time to pack to go camping, so I checked and packed up all my camping gear." He replied.

"When are you going camping?" she asked, hopping that it wasn't a boy's weekend, and that maybe he would invite her along. Not that she was really into camping, but she thought it would be a great idea.

"Over New Years, were leaving on Thursday and coming back on the Monday. My mates and I try and go every year, we all get to catch up, and the girlfriends and wives have a bit of a gossip session, but there is one rule." He said, he wanted to make her interested, and if she was, he could ask if she wanted to come along.

"What's the rule?" she inquired, even though she had never gone camping, she was starting to like the sound of it.

"No kids" he replied, grinning from ear to ear. She too grinned.

"So how many of you go?"

"Well, there are seven of my mates going, as well as there other halves, plus my self, so that makes 15." He said, as his smile faded, she could tell that he was upset by going by himself.

"I've never been camping. Dad use to take the boys all the time, but mum wouldn't let me go. I always thought it would be fun." She said honestly, it was always one thing that she had wanted to experience, but because her mother had always wanted her to be a young lady, she had never been aloud to go. He looked at her, and found his chance to ask her, if she wanted to spend the weekend camping with him.

"Would you like to go?" he asked, "I mean, its just some mates, but the more the merrier." He said.

"I don't have any camping gear. I don't even know how to put up a tent, I don't know any thing about camping." She replied.

"I have pretty much every thing, even a spare sleeping bag, but not a spare tent. I could try and find out if anyone has one, or" he left it in the air; he didn't know how to suggest that they sleep in the same tent.

"What is the 'or'?" she asked, smiling at him. She knew what he was implying, but wanted to hear it from him.

"Well. Just that we could, well, maybe, share my tent?" he said, he had not met her gaze the whole time, and was now just looking at his desk.

"That sounds great, but I have no idea what to pack, so would you mind helping me?" she asked, though she had planed not to let him see all she was planning on packing.

"Yeah, that's fine; you will need some cool clothing as well as something warm to wear at night, as it can get very cold. How about on Wednesday night, I come and help you?"

"Thanks, that would be great." She replied. She finally walked over to her desk; she had been standing in front of his the whole time. She looked down and started to do her paper work, she knew it was going to be a quite day. Boxing Day was always quite, so that was why there were only two of them on today. Jonesy and Susie hardly spoke during the day, occasionally looking up at the other, and some times catching the other's gaze, smiling at each other. They spent the whole day doing paper work, only stopping when Chris came in with lunch. Before they both knew it, it was the end of their shift, so they both headed back to the pub.

Wednesday came very quickly, and by then all the others had returned from Christmas holidays. It had been an unusually quite week, and all were happy about it, it gave them a chance to catch up with all their paper work. Susie and Jonsey had finished theirs on Tuesday morning and had spent most of Wednesday out on patrol. Joss and Kelly were grumbling about this as Jonsey and Susie returned with the lunches.

"It's not fair," Joss started, "Jonsey and Susie have spent the whole morning on patrol."

"I know, and we are stuck here doing paper work." Kelly agreed.

"Susie and Jonsey," Mark started.

"Some one mention our names?" Jonsey asked as he and Susie started to hand out everyone's lunches.

"Have already finished their paper work, which is why they are out on patrol." Mark finished what he had started to say. Joss mumbled under his breath and picked up his lunch. Kelly didn't say a word, and just tucked into her lunch. After another uneventful day, Susie and Jonsey headed back to the pub. Around 6pm Jonsey headed over to Susie's room to help her pack. He knocked on the door and waited for her to answer. Susie was startled when she heard the knock on the door. She knew who it would be, she just hopped that he wouldn't want to put her stuff in his car as soon as they had finished. She got up and walked over to the door; she opened it and smiled at him. He smiled back and she moved to let him in. As he walked in she closed the door behind him. She turned around and saw that he was standing just a few inches away from her. Her heart started to race, she had to move away quickly. She sat her bed; he followed and sat next to her.

"Are we going to start?" he asked, referring to the packing they were going to do.

"What will I need?" she asked, having absolutely no idea where they were going.

"We are going for 4 nights and 5 days, so you will need enough clothing for that, and you may want spare clothing, it may get cold at night, and you may, well, just fall into the river."

"Fall into the river?" she enquired

"It happens." He said with a grin. They spent the next ¾ of an hour packing all of Susie's things. When they finished, Jonsey picked up her bag and headed for the door.

"What are you doing?" Susie asked. He stopped and turned around.

"Putting this in the car." He replied.

"I'm not finished packing."

"What else do you need?"

"Toiletries." She said, plus some other things that he didn't need to see.

"Ok, sorry, I didn't relies that." He replied. "How about I go and get us something to eat and you finish packing."

"Ok, what are you getting?" she asked.

"Chinese?" he asked. She nodded and he left. While he was gone, she finished packing adding her toiletries, underwear, and a few other things that she thought might come in handy.

It was 7.30pm when Jonsey returned with the Chinese food. They sat in silence and ate.

"What time do we have to leave in the morning?" Susie asked after they had finished.

"About 8.30am." he replied. Soon after Jonsey left and they both fell asleep.

At 7.45 the next morning Jonesy knocked on Susie's door. Susie jumped up and ran for the door. She smiled as she opened the door, knowing that it would be Jonesy. She opened the door and let him in.

"Good morning, Susie." He said.

"Morning Jonesy." She replied, he picked up her bag.

"I'll take this to the car. Then met you down stairs for breakfast." He said, as he headed out the door and down the stairs. By 8.30 they were in the car and heading off to the camping site.

"Exactly where are we going?" Susie asked after a half hour in the car.

"About another 2 hours away." He replied.

"But where are we going?" she repeated.

"Camping." He said.

"I know what we are doing, but where are we going to be?"

"Do you trust me?" he asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"I have left a note to tell them where we are if anything goes wrong, so don't worry."

2 hours later, they pulled up to a camp site and saw that there were 5 other cars there. Jonsey jumped out of the car and ran over to Susie's side to let her out. He dragged her over to where a few of his mates were standing. He was greeted by a mate who stuck out his hand for them to shake.

"Jonesy, Mate, how are you?" he was asked by a 6 foot tall man, with short blond hair and brown eyes. He had a solid build, and seemed quite friendly.

"James, I'm good, how are you?" Jonsey asked.

"I'm fine, sorry to hear about Dylan." James said quietly, before continuation "who's your friend?" pointing to Susie.

"James, this is Susie, we work together." James held out his hand to Susie and she shook it.

"Nice to met you, Susie," he turned his head, and nodded at a woman, who walked over, "Susie, this is my wife, Isabel, Susie and Jonesy work together." He said introducing the two women. Isabel was the same height as Susie, and of similar build, but that was where the similarities ended. Isabel has long dark brown, almost black hair, and almost black eyes to match.

"Nice to met you Susie, it's good to see Jonesy finally bringing someone to these camping trips." Isabel said, and Jonsey started to go red.

"Nice to meet you too, Isabel, James. Should we get our stuff out of the car?" Susie asked Jonesy, as she could see that the others had already started to set up camp.

"I'm sure the boys can handle that," Isabel said, "I'll introduce you to every one." Susie had no choice but to follow. She looked back and saw Jonesy nod at her. Jonesy headed to his car with James, and they started to unload. 45 minutes later, and the whole camp was set up. Susie had now been introduce to all the females, and was chatting with them when the guys came over. They slowly went over to their other halves and Jonesy introduce Susie to all his mates.

"No doubt you already have met all the females," he said smiling at her. "But I introduce you to every one now. That's Scott and Jess; Nick and Asha; Sam and Elle; Matt and Bridget; Brett and Alice; and Andrew and Emma." He said pointing them each out for her. She nodded and smiled at them all, hoping to remember all of their names.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but setting up camp is hungry work, how bout we have some lunch?" asked Scott. That was met with replies of yes's. Susie was surprised by how quick everyone was to get lunch organized. The guys had got out a portable BBQ and before she knew what was happening all the guys were gathered around cooking.

Susie was dragged with all the female, who had decided to interrogate her.

"How long have you known Jonesy for?" Isabella asked.

"I transferred to Mt. Thomas in September, 2003."

"Has anything happened between the two of you?" Jess asked.

"No, not really."

"What's 'not really' mean?" Asha asked.

"Nothings happened." Susie replied, trying not to blush, as she thought about the kiss at the Christmas party.

"But you want it too?" Jess asked.

"I don't know."

"Well he is certainly interested in you." Isabella stated.

"What makes you think that?" Susie enquired.

"He has never brought anyone on the camping trip. The only time one of these guys bring someone camping, is when their serious about them." Isabella replied.

"Girls," Scott yelled from the BBQ "Lunch is ready."

Susie was relieved, she didn't know how to respond to that. She knew that she liked him, but not how he felt about her. She didn't know how to ask him, should she ask him straight out, or not? Her thoughts had taken over and she hadn't realized that every one had moved until Jonesy had come up to her. She jumped up as he touched her shoulder. She turned around and faced him. She inhaled his scent, it was intoxicating. He smiled down at her. She smiled back.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"Nothing, why do you ask?" she replied.

"Well, it's just after Scott call you all for lunch, you kind of froze. Was something said?"

"Yes, no, well kind of."

"What's that mean?"

"Can we talk about this later?"

"Yeah, just as long as we talk about it." He put his arm around her shoulder and they walked slowly over to the BBQ. Isabella smiled at Susie, of which Jonesy noted, wondering what was going on.

Later that night, so of the guys had built a campfire, and they were all sitting on blankets around it. Although Susie had changed, she was still cold, she couldn't believe how cold it was when the day had been almost 32 degrees. She was shivering slightly, enough to make Jonesy get up and get another blanket out of their tent. Susie was slightly shaken when he had left, not knowing where he was going. She had gone into her own little world while he was gone, thinking how to tell him about how she felt. He startled her when he came back and raped the blanket around her. She turned her head to smile her thanks and patted the spot next to her for him to come and sit down. He sat, very cautious on how close they were. She noted his unsettledness of sitting close to her. She decided to move a little closer, hoping he wouldn't more away. He leaned his head closer too hers and whispered into her ear.

"Are you still cold?" he asked. She nodded; he moved closer and placed his arms around her shoulders. She snugger in close to him, and lay her head on his shoulder. His arms fell around to her waist, allowing them to become even closer. They sat that way for another hour, listening to the others tell stories, when Jonesy noted that she was falling asleep. He gently shook her and woke her up. She smiled softly up at him.

"Want to go to bed now?" he whispered into her ear. She did not answer, but he felt her nod her head against his shoulder. They both stood slowly and said goodnight to the others, before heading to their tent. Jonesy opened the tent and let Susie enter, he waited out side. Susie turned when she didn't hear him come in, and stuck her head outside.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I though you might like to get changed." He replied.

"Its fine, you can come in, I'm sure I haven't got anything you haven't seen before." She replied as she grabbed his arm and pulled him into the tent.

"Do you want to talk about what was wrong before?" he asked.

"Those girls are such a laugh," she started, "they actually said the guys only bring girls up here if they're really interested in them, can you believe it?" She turned to look at Jonesy and saw the grim look on his face.

"What's wrong?" she asked him, not knowing what was wrong.

"Well, what they said was true." He replied.

"What's that mean?" she asked.

"Well, just that I really like you, and well, you just think it's a joke."

"No, I don't," she started, "I um……I really like you too, I just didn't know how to tell you."

"Really?" his face now showed him grinning. She nodded at him, and he walked up closer to her. She smiled as he approached and leaned in to kiss her. She responded with as much enthusiasm. He pulled away and saw her yawn.

"I think you need some sleep." He said. She nodded and started to change into her PJ's. she grinned as she saw him watching her.

"Having fun?" she asked, as she unclasped her bra. Turning to face him, and holding it in place.

"More then anything." He replied as she dropped her bra down onto the floor of the tent. His eyes widened. She quickly pulled her pajamas top over her head and he stared to make whimpering sounds. She rolled her eyes, and continued to get changed, all the time his eyes were on her. His eyes widened even more, as she turned around to pick up her pajama pants, reveling her g-string. She quickly pulled on her pants.

"Are you sleeping in that?" she asked him.

"No, why?"

"Cause I want to go to sleep. So can you please hurry up!"

He changed as she crawled into her sleeping bag, she pulled the blanket over her as well, and still couldn't get warm. Jonesy noted this.

"You still cold?" he asked.

"Yep." He pushed his air mattress over next to hers.

"Body heat is a good way to keep warm." He said as he climbed into his sleeping bag and hugged her close to him. A few minutes later they were both sound asleep in each others arms.

Susie work to sun streaming through the tent, she smiled as she felt Jonesy's arms around her. She glanced at her watch and saw that it was only 5.30am. She decided that it was too early too get up. She knew that Jonesy was still asleep from his steady breathing; she turned in his arms and lent her head on his chest. She could feel the rise and fall of it beneath her. She felt his arms tighten around her, this comforted her and she fell back asleep. When she awoke awhile later, she felt him kiss her head. She smiled into his chest.

"Good morning." He said.

"Morning." Susie replied sleepily. "What time is it?"

"Its 7.30." he replied. Susie buried her head back into Jonesy's chest.

"Too early." She mumbled into his chest. Before he had a chance to reply, the tent was opened and James was standing with his head in the tent.

"Get up or you will go in the lake." He told them, heading back out of the tent. Susie groaned and hid her head under the blanket.

"Up you get, I am not going into the lake for anyone, and trust me, you don't want to either." Jonsey said as he climbed out of his sleeping bag. He pulled on his shorts and t-shirt, before he pulled the blanket off Susie's head.

"Up you get." He said again and Susie groaned. Susie was climbing out of her sleeping bag as Jonsey was heading out of the tent. A few minutes later Susie climbed out of the tent and into the sunshine. Instantly, she was surrounded by the other females, all wanting to know what had happened the night before.

"What happened?" asked Jess.

"Nothing." Susie replied.

"That's not what James said." Isabella said.

"What exactly did James say?" Susie asked, raising her eyebrows at her.

"He said that you two looked very cozy, you were raped up in his arms and your head was buried in Jonsey's chest." Isabella said very satisfactory.

"So what happened?" Jess asked again, raising her eyebrows again.

"Nothing, I was just really cold last night. So Jonsey put an extra blanket around me, but I was still cold, so he said that body heat was good too keep warm, and he was right." Susie replied, trying not too blush. A few moments later they were all heading towards the guys to have breakfast.

"What's the plan for the day ladies?" James asked as they were all eating breakfast.

"I think going for a swim sounds like a good idea, what are you guys up too?" Isabella said.

"Not too sure at the moment, are we guys?" Scott answered, giving a sly grin towards James.

Later that morning, the guys had gone off for a bush walk leaving the girls at the lake.

"So, Jonsey, what's the deal with you and Susie?" James asked.

"We are friends." Was Jonsey's reply.

"Oh and that was why you had your arms around her and her head was buried into your chest?" Scott asked. Raising his eyebrows at Jonsey.

"She was cold, and couldn't get warm, so I told her that the body heat would keep her warm" Jonsey started, "that's it, end of story."

"Yep what ever you say, so do you like her?" James, who had been his best mate since high school, asked.

"Yeah, I do, I really do, but…" he started.

"But, what?" Scott asked.

"But, I don't know how she feels." He replied. He didn't want to continue this any more. James could see it in her eyes and stopped this conversation. The guys walked around for about an 2 hours more before returning to the camp site.

They all spent the rest of the day relaxing by the lake, as it was new years eve, they all felt like relaxing. The evening soon approached and they were again all sitting around the camp fire. At around 9.30 Susie heard a loud bang and jumped. The rest all laughed at her until Jonsey pointed out that it was the fire works put on in town for the kids who wouldn't be able to stay up until midnight. Susie relaxed and enjoyed the 15 minute display that they could clearly see from their camp site.

"Want too go for a walk?" Jonsey whispered to Susie.

"What now?" she asked as she turned her head to face him, "what if we fall over?"

"Yes, now, it will be fine, we will take a torch." He replied as he got them both to their feet.

"Be back later guys." Jonsey yelled to the others before taking Susie's hand and leading away. They walked in silence for a few minutes just enjoying each others company. Jonsey put his arms around her waist, and she snuggled into him. Suddenly Jonsey stopped them as he had found a tree stump he could sit on, he pulled Susie into his lap and kissed her neck. She giggled as he did this, and turned slightly to run her hands down his back.

"What are you thinking?" she asked him.

"Just how beautiful you are," Jonsey said sincerely, "and how nice it is too be here together, what about you?" he replied as Susie gave another giggle.

"Just how nice it is being here with you, all alone, with no one watching." She said as she stood up and walked away slowly, Jonsey held the torch on her. She was walking backwards and slowly taking off her top, hoping that Jonsey would follow her, when all of a sudden she fell in a hole that she hadn't known was there. Jonsey rushed to his feet and over to where Susie was now lying in tears.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"No, my ankle, it really hurts." She cried in pain. Jonsey tried too look at her ankle but was unable to see anything in the dark.

"I'm going to pick you up and carry you back to camp, is that ok?" he asked.

"Yeah, I don't think I would be able to walk." She replied. Jonsey gathered her in his arms and carried her back towards the camp. When they reached the camp, he placed her down onto the blanket they had previously been sitting on.

"What's wrong?" asked Isabella.

"Susie slipped and hurt her ankle." Jonsey replied, as he checked her ankle in the light of the fire.

"I'll get some ice." Isabella said as she was walking towards her car, where there was a portable freezer.

"Susie, It just looks like a sprain, we will put some ice on it for about 20 minutes and see how it goes. Ok?" Jonsey said, to a still very distraught Susie. Susie nodded her reply. Susie's ankle was slowly starting to feel better by midnight and she relaxed into Jonsey's arms as they watched them. Jonsey kissed her on the cheek and whispered into her ear.

"Happy New Years, Susie." He said. She turned her head and leaned into kiss him. He responded, before picking her up and carrying her back to their tent.

The next day, Susie rolled over and placed her hand where Jonsey should have been. Her eyes shot open when he wasn't lying next to her. She was disappointed, as the last two mornings he had watched her sleep while he waited for her to wake. She sat up and reached for her clothing to quickly dress. She was pulling her top over her head as Jonsey walked back into the tent.

"Dam." He said.

"What?" she replied.

"Wasn't quick enough." He said with a cheeky grin. Susie grinned back at him. She went to stand up and fall back again, as Jonesy rushed to her side.

"Still a bit sore?" he asked.

"Just a bit, I forgot it was sore, and put too much weight on it." She replied as she stood once more. Jonesy put his arm around her for support, and even though she didn't really need it, she leaned on him as they walked out of the tent together. The others had set up for breakfast before Susie had woken and she was surprised by what she saw. There was fresh fruit, toast, bacon and eggs and juice.

"What's all this?" She whisper into Jonesy ear.

"Nothing." He replied with a cheeky grin. They all chatted quietly while eating breakfast after everything was cleared away Scott stood up.

"Lady's we have to leave you all for a while, why don't you all enjoy the lake" the guys stood and started to leave. Susie tugged Jonesy's pants and he bent down to her.

"Are you really going to leave me here?" she asked looking into his eyes seductively.

"Sorry, secret men's business." He gave her a quick kiss and ran and headed to catch up with the guys. Susie was disappointed, she was hoping to milk the sore ankle as much as she could she knew that he had a thing for women in distress. Susie slowly made her way towards the lake where all the others had gone. She lay down her towel and started to apply sunscreen, as she was planning to get a tan. She was constantly checking her watch to see how long had passed since the guys had left. This didn't go unnoticed.

"What's up Susie?" Isabella enquired.

"Nothing why?" came Susie's reply.

"It's just that you keep looking at your watch. Are you tired of us already?" Isabella said. "No, it's not that," Susie started, she wasn't really sure what was wrong with Jonesy gone she felt that something was missing, "its just weird not to have Jonesy around."

"Ah" Isabella said.

"What?" Susie demanded.

"Your in love."

"WHAT?" Susie screamed.

"You heard me." Isabella said, all the girls started to laugh. Susie just lay back down on her towel and thought about what had been said. She knew she liked him but love, that was crazy, wasn't it? She couldn't think about it anymore, she knew what Isabella said was true, but she didn't know how to tell him. She rolled over so her stomach was on the ground and closes her eyes, the guys wouldn't be back for a while.

The guys had finished there little meeting and heading back to camp. As they were getting close James spotted all the girls sun baking on the shore, he stopped them where they were.

"How about we sneak up and throw them all into the water?" James asked. All the guys nodded and split up, walking as quietly as they could to their respective partner. The girls didn't see them as they were lying on their fronts. They guys nodded at each other and picked up the girls. There was yelling and screaming, arms and legs getting thrown about and the guys where having insults thrown at them. Finally they were let down, and ended up in the lake. Susie was very unimpressed. And she was going to make sure Jonsey knew it. The rest of the afternoon and evening went with out a hitch, except that Susie wasn't talking to Jonsey. As the evening wore on, they started to head to their tents. Susie was still ignoring Jonsey and he had no idea.

"What's wrong?" he asked as they were getting ready for bed.

"Nothing." Susie said shortly and climbed into her sleeping bag and rapped the blanket around her. Jonsey climbed into his sleeping bag and turned Susie around to face him. She had been crying silent tears Jonsey pulled her into a hug and let her cry. After a few minutes she stopped ad looked at him. He smiled gently at her.

"What's wrong?" he asked again. She looked deep into his eyes.

"I think I love you" she said. He smiled at her, and kissed her fully on the lips. She didn't respond and he pulled away.

"I love you too." He said, this time it was Susie who made the first move and kissed him with everything she had. After a few minutes his hands started to explore her body. She pushed him away. He looked hurt.

"I don't want our first time to be in a tent." She said. He smiled.

"We will leave tomorrow and find a b&b," he started looking deep into her eyes, "if that's what you want." She kissed him, she couldn't wait to morning to get away.

"That sounds great." She said as she cuddled into him for the night he kissed her hair before they both fell asleep.


End file.
